Ed Miliband’s immaturity on this issue will not go down well with the public

George Osborne’s announcement in the Autumn Statement that new restrictions on benefits would be put before Parliament via a Welfare Uprating Bill was widely viewed as a masterstroke of political calculation – a measure that was not just desirable in itself, but would (in a mirror of Gordon Brown’s introduction of the 50p tax rate) put the Labour Party in a devilish bind, as it was forced to choose between those who work and those who shirk.

It is starting to look, however, as if the Chancellor has rather overestimated his opponents. In pledging to oppose the Bill root and branch, Ed Miliband has not simply fallen into the Coalition’s trap, but leapt in head first. Yes, the measures – which see rises in most benefits limited to 1 per cent for the next three years, effectively a real-terms cut – will cause people pain. Yes, they will hit those in work as well as those out of it. But in the words of Labour’s Liam Byrne, which cannot be repeated often enough, there is no money left. Every part of society is having to pay the price for the last government’s decade of reckless spending. And it is surely better to make savings in the welfare system – which has in any case swollen to the point where it all too often acts as a cage rather than a safety net – than to ask hard-pressed taxpayers to fork out even more for those who do not pull their weight.

As a result of its decision, Labour finds itself on comfortable rhetorical ground, able to castigate the heartless Tories and their Liberal Democrat lackeys for their determination to grind the poor into the dirt. This ignores the fact that such policies are overwhelmingly (and rightly) popular among voters. Indeed, when polled, they invariably want politicians to take an even tougher line. Mr Miliband’s immaturity on this issue will not go down well with the public. Nor does it deserve to.